These are the nights
by thisoldlady
Summary: They say, that wolves mate for life. Set in 7A.


Even in good times, Carol has a hard time to sleep. Relaxation doesn't come easy. Her dreams are always vivid, full of nightmares. The death of her parents, a car accident when she was 21. Ed. All the beatings, she took. The humiliations. The misscariage of two children before Sophia was born.

When the dead started walking , the horrors in the streets were worse than every nightmare. Sophia missing, Sophia dead.

Sophia, Lizzie, Mika, Sam...

Every night she's haunted by her memories.

Now, in her little house in the middle of nowhere, she hopes for healing. For rest and peace. She has time to deal with all her losses. She hunts, she is thinking, she reads, she memorizes her life, her actions. She misses her family terribly, worries about them. About him...

Sleep doesn't come easy.

And dreams are still vivid.

Especially this one.

She's somewhere in the woods. It's silent, placid. There is no harm, she can sense it. The sun is shining through the canopy of leaves. Shadows are dancing. She starts walking, feeling light~hearted and free. Unfamiliar feelings to her nowadays.

In a clearing she spots a small pond. The calm water surface is like a mirror. When she bends down to let her fingers glide through the clean, cool water, she can catch a glimpse of her reflection.

It's not Carol, looking back at her, it's a wolf, with silver fur and blue eyes.

In this peaceful dream, she's a wolf, wandring through walker~free woods...and it's beautiful.

When she wakes up in the early morning hours, she feels rested as never.

And...strangely enough, next night the dream continues, untroubled, still, just the Carol~wolf in a forest.

She begins to crave sleep.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

When Daryl was a little boy he used to dream of peaceful woods, where nothing could hurt him, woods, to protect him, to feed him. In his dreams he wasn't a shy, beaten boy, he was a strong, a powerful wolf.

And now, alone in his cell, naked and desperate, he lays and waits for sleep to take over. Just a little nap. That's all he hopes for. To escape the hunger, the cold, the pain, the music in an endless loop.

Maybe in sleep the pain is faded, like old time memories.

His dad, Merle, his mom, burning to death, Sophia, Beth, Denise, Glenn. The guilt is always there, the self loath.

So many regrets. Carol. ( His greatest failure.)

He tries to picture her. Her face, her lithe frame, her beautiful eyes.

In his dream, he's back in the forests of his childhood dreams. A clean, earthy smell surrounds him. He feels alive. He can hear sounds of the woods, so typical and familiar. Soothing. Leaves rustle, birds singing, a frog croaks, in the distance, the howling of a wolf is to be heard. He feels free. There is no pain in his body, in his soul.

His sleep doesn't last long, the harsh reality rushes back to him. He's still naked on the cold concrete, surrounded by the smell of his own vomit.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Carol dreams again. Of the clearing, the pond. When suddenly she can feel the appearance of another creature. There's another wolf, looking in her direction. Brown, ragged, tousled. And yet... oh so beautiful.

Daryl dreams again. Of the woods. His instincts can sense another wolf, a female. He steps out of the forest, seeing her. A beautiful silver~coated wolf. She looks in his direction. Those eyes... he would recognize them everywhere. Carol. Somehow they ended together in this dream. Fate.

She comes in his direction, her nose touches his. Greeting him like a long lost member of her pack.

They roam the woods together. Side by side. Chasing each other, playing like pups, sleeping close. There is mutal grooming and nibbling of each other coats. He tosses and tilts his head and lays his legs around her neck.

They mate.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

And when he's awake, he knows, he has to survive this hell. He has to live. To live for her.

He has to tell her that he loves her.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Carol knows, she has to go back. To her family. To him. To be with him, with all the consequences.

She loves him. And he has to know.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

In their dreams, they are together.

Inseperable.

Free.

In love.


End file.
